The COVID-19 pandemic has critically affected almost all of Squamish's tourism sector, according to a recent survey by Tourism Squamish.
About 98% of those who responded said they were significantly impacted by ramifications of the disease. More than three-quarters of those affected called it an extreme impact with a critical downward shift in revenue.
"Globally, tourism continues to be one of the most impacted industries to date from the COVID-19 pandemic and Tourism Squamish understands the absolute challenging nature many of our members are currently facing," wrote Lesley Weeks, Tourism Squamish's executive director. "We're in this together."
These findings, released March 31 to The Chief, strike a starkly different tone in comparison with how things were just under a month ago.
Shortly before sweeping social distancing measures were imposed in Squamish, officials were heralding an impressive uptick in tourism revenue that's been occurring over the last decade.
Tourism Squamish presented figures at a municipal council meeting on March 10 that showed visitors have increased their spending in town by 277% since 2008.
Back then, it was $25.3 million. In 2018, the most recent year from which data was available, that number rose to $95.2 million — about $155 per person.
That fuelled $35.5 million in local wages and created the equivalent of about 557 full-time jobs.
However, since those numbers were presented to council, a startling new landscape has emerged for the tourism sector in town.
Due to the threat of COVID-19, social distancing measures have been imposed, forcing many businesses to reduce or completely shut down their operations.
Tourism Squamish has since been monitoring the impact that the pandemic has had on local industry through surveys. The first took place between March 13 and 17. The second, and most recent, took place between March 23 to 30.
The results from the most recent survey paint a picture of a sector that has been undermined by the impact of COVID-19.
Excluding normal seasonal closures, about two-thirds of those surveyed said their businesses are now closed.
For the third that is still open, most have been forced to change their operations. This includes switching to take-out only or reducing business hours, among other things.
About a quarter of those surveyed said they were expecting to lay off all their staff during the pandemic.
All respondents said that COVID-19 will affect their business over the next six months, with four in five forecasting an extreme or critical downward shift in revenue.
